Let me introduce myself. My name is Michele VonHagen and I am married to my soulmate, Mike. We've been together since August 2007 and have been married since July 31st, 2008. In addition to Mike and myself, his three kids from a previous marriage live with us full time and we also have a daughter of our own who was born in 2010 (Baby Girls). I'm a stay at home mom. We currently live on a small farm in north central Iowa. We have one chocolate lab that we inherited, two kittens that we found here on the farm, seven Australorp hens, six young hens, and a roo named Shorty.
Up until Feburary 2007 I was the proud owner of 14 real horses - 2 AQHA stallions, 11 AQHA mares, and 1 POA mare. Sadly I had to give up the real horses due to my divorce. Since I can no longer have the real thing, I now collect Breyer and Peter Stone model horses again. Along with the Breyers and Stones I am also collecting Grand Champion Micro Minis, Ertls, and Schleichs. I was active in the hobby from 1997 thru mid 1999. Mid 1999 is when I decided to get out of the models and focus on the real horses. I sold a large part of my collection and then traded what I had left to friends for my first AQHA mare. I got back into the hobby in 2008 and have been pretty active ever since. My collection is back up to around 400 models and all are OFs (original finish). I don't collect decorator or fantasy models and the majority of my models are matte finish.
In addition to collecting the models I have also started making western tack for them. Right now I do cross stitched saddle pads but will get into more once Baby Girls is a bit older. My saddle pads have gone all over the US and have now gone to Australia as well. Please feel free to check out my sister site - www.michelescustomcrafts.com to see photos of my saddle pads.
I'm pretty new to Pedigree Assignment (PA) and have become a member of IPABRA (International Pedigree Assignment and Bloodline Research Association). I've already met some wonderful people who also do PA and I have been steadily working on getting pedigrees for my models.
Up until Feburary 2007 I was the proud owner of 14 real horses - 2 AQHA stallions, 11 AQHA mares, and 1 POA mare. Sadly I had to give up the real horses due to my divorce. Since I can no longer have the real thing, I now collect Breyer and Peter Stone model horses again. Along with the Breyers and Stones I am also collecting Grand Champion Micro Minis, Ertls, and Schleichs. I was active in the hobby from 1997 thru mid 1999. Mid 1999 is when I decided to get out of the models and focus on the real horses. I sold a large part of my collection and then traded what I had left to friends for my first AQHA mare. I got back into the hobby in 2008 and have been pretty active ever since. My collection is back up to around 400 models and all are OFs (original finish). I don't collect decorator or fantasy models and the majority of my models are matte finish.
In addition to collecting the models I have also started making western tack for them. Right now I do cross stitched saddle pads but will get into more once Baby Girls is a bit older. My saddle pads have gone all over the US and have now gone to Australia as well. Please feel free to check out my sister site - www.michelescustomcrafts.com to see photos of my saddle pads.
I'm pretty new to Pedigree Assignment (PA) and have become a member of IPABRA (International Pedigree Assignment and Bloodline Research Association). I've already met some wonderful people who also do PA and I have been steadily working on getting pedigrees for my models.